Medicare’s Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) program is getting a major dose of health equity next year, as we’ve explained in our Higher Thinking series. (Click here to read the in-depth report.) But next year’s changes are just the beginning, and 2024 will see mandated reporting that goes much further. As CMS notes, the new reporting… Read More

Meet the Team is our blog series introducing some of the amazing professionals at Ascendient – who they are and what makes them tick. This month, we talk to Managing Consultant Jon Rodgers. Tell me about your interest in healthcare as a career. Didn’t you want to be a doctor at one point? Why did… Read More

As North Carolina considers various proposals for Certificate of Need reform, the state’s General Assembly invited Ascendient founder Dawn Carter share her CON expertise with the Joint Legislative Committee on Access to Healthcare and Medicaid Expansion. In a 30-minute presentation followed by 10 minutes of questions, Dawn used extensive data to refute the notion that… Read More

Meet the Team is our blog series introducing some of the amazing professionals at Ascendient – who they are and what makes them tick. This month, meet Erin Nelson, a managing consultant who joined the firm in May of 2021. I know you have a varied background in healthcare strategy, but these days you focus… Read More

Ascendient is pleased to announce that Joann Anderson has joined the firm to launch three new practice areas focused on strengthening healthcare leadership and operations, especially in rural settings. With a national reputation honed over 40+ years, Joann brings unmatched experience in rural healthcare leadership, including long service as both CEO (UNC Health Southeastern) and… Read More

Meet the Team is our new blog series introducing some of the amazing professionals at Ascendient – who they are and what makes them tick. This month, meet Emily Cromer, a principal who joined the firm in June 2002. You’ve been with Ascendient nearly 20 years now, which is a pretty remarkable tenure in this… Read More

If you’ve been working remotely for the past year, would a $30,000 raise entice you back into the office? In a recent survey of 3,000 workers at dozens of large US companies, the vast majority of respondents said they would forego the hefty raise if they could keep working in their pajamas. I’ve spent more… Read More

Robust employment contracts, income guarantees, signing bonuses, loan forgiveness: Faced with a growing shortage of providers, many hospitals and health systems are desperate to one-up each other with high-dollar physician recruitment incentives. Usually, these incentives are aimed at the physician as a physician. But what about incentives that recognize the physician is also a person?… Read More

Meet the Team is our new blog series introducing some of the amazing professionals at Ascendient – who they are and what makes them tick. This month, meet Angel Lopez-Collazo, a healthcare consultant who joined the team in January 2020. In your LinkedIn bio, you call yourself a healthcare consultant, of course, but also a… Read More

Amazon is on a hiring spree, and it could affect your ability to attract and retain medical professionals. This month, Amazon executive Babak Parviz said his company would need to hire “thousands” of additional employees for the national rollout of its telemedicine service, Amazon Care. For traditional healthcare providers, that might signal a squeeze on… Read More